Weaving frame



Y. JUILLARD WEAVING FRAME Dec. 1, 1964 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed May 22. 1961 INVENTOR Yves Julllard ATTORNEY Dec. 1,1964

5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filedlday 22, 1961 vow emu

wmm 0mm mmm mm mmm Y. JUILLARD WEAVING FRAME Dec. 1, 1964 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed May 22, 1961 wum can mum 05 I. 2 r3 NETS i arm . 5 m8 m6 3m 3m KN Y.- JUILLARD WEAVING FRAME 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed May 22. 1961 E a. m2 55 w V mow STD-L V m g 2 a NvN wrN Dec. 1, 1964 Y. JUILLARD 8 WEAVING FRAME Filed May 22, 1961 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Yves Jui/lara INVENTOR BY ATTORNEY United States Patent Office 3,159,186 Patented Dec. 1, 1964 3,159,186 WEAVING FRAME Yves .l'uillard, Mulhouse, Hant-Rhin, France, assignor to Societe Alsacienne de Constructions Mecaniqnes, Mulhouse, Haut-Rhin, France, a company of France Filed May 22, 1961, Ser. No. 111,771 Claims priority, application France Feh. 14, 1961 16 Claims. ($1. 139-127) This invention relates to weaving frames or looms of the shuttle-less type. In weaving frames of the type thus referred to, the laying or shooting of each pick of weft yarn across the warp yarn, through the shed or separation formed between the alternate sets of warp threads at each weaving cycle, instead of being performed by a shuttle moving across the warp as in earlier looms, is effected by means of a pair of weft-carrier needles arranged for reciprocation towards and away from each other into and out of the shed from both sides of the weaving frame, each needle travelling over one half of the full width dimension of the web. One of these needles has an extremity of the weft yarn delivered to it as the needle reaches the outermost point of its reciprocating cycle and it grips this yarn and carries it inwards toward the other needle. Cooperating means are provided at the inner ends of both needles so that the weft yarn is transferred from said one to the other needle as both needles reach the innermost position of their cycle; then said other needle which now is gripping the weft yarn carries it over the outgoing stroke of said other needle to complete the weft-shooting step.

Heretofore, in this type of Weaving frame, it was believed necessary to provide guiding means in which the needles were slidably mounted for effecting their reciprocation, and such needle guides have always been provided. It is the main object of this invention to eliminate the use of such needle guides and to achieve successful weft shooting and transferring operations without them.

The elimination of needle guides as achieved by the invention brings with it a number of outstanding advantages. First of all it considerably simplifies the construction of the weaving frame as well as simplifying, adjusting and maintaining operations. Problems of alignment raised by the guides are done away with. Another difficulty inherent to conventional needle guides is that they have to be withdrawn out of the shed before the reed has advanced to settle or press the freshly-shot pick of weft against the previously settled weft, and since the needles must evidently be withdrawn out of the shed before the guides can be withdrawn, this has made it necessary to withdraw the needles out of the shed relatively early in the weaving cycle. This in turn means that the fresh pick of weft has to be pressed home by the reed at a time when the shed is still fairly widely open and is therefore not exerting much clamping pressure on said pick of weft, so that the latter is apt to contract by its own elasticity thus impairing the quality of the woven fabric. Moreover because of the comparatively early point in the cycle at which the needles have to be withdrawn they have to be operated at high velocity with attendant mechanical difficulties.

In addition to the difiiculties in timing just mentioned the presence of the needle guides raises diificulties in relation to space. Because of the substantial width dimensions of the guides the path of the needles and of.

the weft yarn carried by them cannot be positioned immediately adjacent the reed as would otherwise be desirable since such position represents the most wide-open position of the shed in the warp yarn.

Objects of this invention include the effective overcoming of the various dithculties and inconveniences enumerated above as resulting from the provision of needle guides on conventional looms of the class referred to.

The invention, in one aspect, comprises a weaving frame having warp supply means, warp shedding means, means shooting weft through the warp shed, and a reed reciprocable longitudinally of the warp for settling each shot of weft, said weft shooting means comprising a pair of needles reciprocable toward and away from each other across the warp and having weft-holding and transferring means at their inner ends, means pivotally connected with the outer ends of the needles for reciprocating the needles longitudinally of the frame with the reed and transversely of the frame in and out of the shed, said inner ends of the needles resting floatingly on the lower warp sheet and adjacent to the reed, the arrangement being such that both said inner needle ends are applied against both the warp threads and the reed at the moment of weft transfer.

The invention, in another aspect, comprises a weaving frame having warp supply means, warp shedding means for producing an upper and a lower sheets of warp, means for shooting weft through the shed, and a reed reciprocable longitudinally of the warp for settling each shot of weft at a rearmost point of the reciprocation of the reed, said weft shooting means comprising a pair of weft carrying needles reciprocatable toward and away from each other and having weft holder means at their inner ends, means delivering weft yarn to the weft holder of one needle at an outermost position of the reciprocation of both needles and mems for transferring said weft yarn from said one to the other needle at an innermost position of the reciprocation of both needles, means connected with the outer ends of the needles for reciprocating both needles longitudinally of the Warp simultaneously with the reed and for simultaneously reciprocating the needles toward and away from each other transversely of the warp, said needles having their inner ends resting substantially freely by gravity on said lower sheet of warp forwardly of the reed, and means so timing, said longitudinal and transverse reciprocatory motions that the needles attain said innermost transfer positions thereof substantially as said reed attains said rearmost settling position thereof, whereby the needles are pressed by inertia against the reed surface at the time of weft transfer for true alignment between said inner needle ends during the weft transfer operation.

An exemplary embodiment of the invention will now be described for purposes of illustration but not of limitation with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an improved weaving frame according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a side view on the line H of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a larger-scale view showing a partial section on line III--III of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a large-scale front view of a weft delivery needle usable according to the invention;

FIG. 5 is a corresponding plan view with parts broken away;

FIG. 6 is a section on line VIVI of FIG. 4;

FIG. 7 is a side view on line VII of FIG. 4;

FIG. 8 is a front view of the other or drawing needle;

FIG. 9 is a corresponding plan view;

FIG. 10 is a front view of the inner ends of both needles at the time of weft transfer from one needle to the other;

FIG. 11 is a corresponding plan view partly broken away;

FIG. 12 is a front view of both needles just after weft transfer, with parts broken away;

FIG. 13 is a corresponding plan view;

FIG. 14 is a rear perspective view of FIGS. 12 and 13 with parts broken away;

FIG. 15 is a schematic side view of a modified feature involving the assembly of the batten and reed, and

FIGS. 16 to 18 are diagrammatic views showing three different positions of the needle bars relative to the reed during the rearward stroke thereof.

Referring especially to FIGS. 1 and 2, the loom shown comprises a frame 201 comprising a pair of transversely spaced parallel vertical frame members suitably interconnected to provide a rigid structure. A batten or lay 202 is mounted for reciprocation between the frame side members by means of the spaced lay swords 203 and 20-4 secured on a common transverse rocker shaft 205 journalled across the frame side members near the base of the frame. The batten is reciprocated from a crankshaft 2&8 journalled in the frame side members near the top of the frame and having its spaced crank portions connected through pivoted links 211 and 212 to the tops of the respective lay swords 2413 and 2%. A conventional reed 21 3, the upper rail of which is shown at 213a, is secured in upstanding relation from the front side of the batten 202 and the warp threads are passed through the spaces between the teeth of the reed in the usual way. A pair of weft picking needles 214 and 215 are supported in a manner later described in detail for reciprocation towards and away from each other across the width dimension of the frame adjacent the batten for insertion of the picks of weft yarn through the shed of warp yarn, needle 214 being a delivery needle and needle 215 being a drawing needle.

J ournalled across the front part of the frame is a warp beam or roller 218 provided with any suitable regulating means here shown as a weight 219 suspended from a rope trained over a pulley 221 secured to one end of the warp beam. -Wound around the Warp beam 218 in the conventional manner are a multiplicity of warp threads only two end ones of which are indicated at 222. The warp threads 222 extending from the warp beam 218 are passed over a main warp-carrier roller 223 followed by an auxiliary warp carrier roller 224 of smaller diameter, beyond which i the altenate warp threads are separated into an upper sheet 225 and a lower sheet 226 which in the usual man ner are passed through the eyes of respective sets of heddles 251 and 252 which are reciprocated in opposite senses so as to interchange cyclically the relative positions of said upper and lower sheets of warp every time a pick of weft yarn has been passed by means of the needles 214 and 215 through the space, or shed, defined between said sheets, thereby to weave the fabric.

The woven fabric is passed over a winding roll 228 and between the latter and an adjacent backing roll 229, and is taken up by means of the cloth beam or roller 231 journalled at the front of the frame.

Conventional means are provided for driving the winding roll 228 and cloth beam 231 in step-by-step rotation and such means are shown in FIG. 2 as comprising a lever arm 243 secured to an end of the batten driven shaft 205 and connected through a rod 242 to a pawl and ratchet system 238-239 so as to impart stepped rotation to the ratchet wheel 239. This in turn, through gearing 234- 23523623-7, is shown as rotating the winding roll 228. A tenter or templet such as 244 serves to maintain tension in the woven cloth as it is passed toward the winding roll 228.

The heddle harness including the afore-mentioned heddles 251 and 252 is actuated through means diagrammatically shown as comprising a pair of levers 253 and 254 connected to the lower ends of the heddle harness and pivoted on a shaft 255 mounted across the lower part of the frame. 'The levers 253 and 254 have follower rollers 256 and 257 pivoted to intermediate points of them and adapted to be engaged by respective cams 253 and 259 mounted on a camshaft 261 journalled across the frame and rotated from the crankshaft 2% through suitable drive means here shown as comprising a drive chain 262 trained at its lower end around a large sprocket wheel 264 secured on shaft 261 and at its upper end around a smaller sprocket 263 secured on crankshaft 208.

The crankshaft 208 from which the various main components of the loom are operated as described above may in turn derive its rotation from any suitable source, here shown as an electric motor 267 mounted on the base of the loom and driving crankshaft 203 through a drive belt 268 trained at one end over a motor pulley 269 and at its other end around a large radius pulley 271 secured to the crankshaft and serving as a regulator flywheel.

The weaving frame or loom as so far described is more or less conventional and it will be understood that as the heddles 251i and 252 are oppositely reciprocated up and down'through the means above described to reverse cyclically the direction of the shed, i.e. cyclically to interchange the relative positions between the upper sheet 225 of warp threads and the lower sheet 226 thereof, the picker needles 214 and 2 15 are both caused to move inwards toward each other into the shed until their inner ends meet substantially midway of the width of the web and then away from each other and out of the shed. During the inward stroke the delivery needle 2 14 is carrying an end portion of weft yarn delivered thereto from a suitable supply bobbin or pirn, and as the inner ends of both needles meet midway of the shed this yarn is transferred from needle 214 to the other needle 215, so that at the outward stroke of both needles the needle 215 draws the weft yarn completely through the shed and out the opp0- site end thereof, thus cooperating with the needle 214 to complete a wef-shooting operation. Whereas in conventional looms of this class the picker needles are slidably mounted in guides for enabling them to accomplish their desired reciprocatory motions, according to the invention the needles are supported in a free floating condition throughout their reciprocation. That is, the inner ends or heads of both needles are made to rest simply upon the upper surface of the batten 2632 in engagement with the front face of reed 213 while their outer ends are swivelled, as hereinafter described, to the free ends of respective levers 278 and 282 (see FIG. 1) which are arranged to impart the requisite reciprocations to the needles transversely of the frame while simultaneously allowing said needles to follow the reciprocations of the batten and comb longitudinally of the frame. The construction and mounting of the needles 214 and 215 and the drive means thereof will now be described in greater detail.

Referring to FIGS. 4 to 6 which illustrate delivery needle 214, it will be noted that this is formed at its outermost end (rightward of FIG. 4) with an offset flange 214' formed with a hole in it, and an olive shaped pivot member 27 6 engaged in a recess or socket 277 formed in a boss at the free end of lever 27$ projects at one end into said hole in flange 214', being resiliently retained therein by a spring leaf 281 secured to lever 278 and having an end engaging the projecting end of olive member 27%. The arrangement is such that spring leaf 281 normally prevents withdrawal of the olive member 276 and thus retains the pivot mounting assembled. However, the olive member 276 can be forced out of its recess by pushing it (rightward in FIG. 6) against the force of spring 231 whereupon the needle 214 is very quickly and easily released from its connection with lever 278. It will be understood that the opposite needle 215 has its outer end connected to the free end of lever 282 corresponding to lever 278 on the opposite side of the frame in exactly the same way as just described for needle 214.

For imparting reciprocation to the needles 214 and 215 while enabling them to follow the reciprocation of batten 202 the following means are used in the present embodiment. The description will refer primarily to the drive means associated with needle 214, that associated with needle 215 being generally similar. Lever 278 carries a pin at its lower end slidably mounted in a guideway 283 secured between and perpendicularly to thev spaced arms of a horizontal fork 234 secured to the projecting end of. the batten-reciprocating rocker shaft 205. Lever 278 further carries midway of its length a pivot pin 280 to which is pivoted one arm 285 of a twoarmed lever 236 having its midpoint pivoted by means of a pin 287 to a bracket 288 projecting from the batten 202. As will be especially apparent from FIG. 2, the midplane of slideway 233, the planes of levers 278 and 286 remain at all times parallel to the midplane of the batten swords 203, 2%, and the axes of pivots 280 and 287 remain normal to said plane. Thus on reciprocation of batten rocker shaft 265, considering the motions in relation to the structure rotationally reciprocating with the batten, it will be seen that pivot 289 describes an arc of a circumference about the axis of pivot 287, the lower end of lever 27% describes a straight line path in the slideways 283, while the upper end of lever 2'78 and hence the outer end of needle 214 connected to it describes a straight-line path axially of the needle. reciprocation to the needle along this straight-line path,

For, imparting the free end of arm 2% of lever 286 is connected through a link 219 with one arm 292 of a twoarrned lever 293 having an intermediate point of it secured on a projecting end of a shaft 294 journalled in the frame side members 201. The other arm 295 of two-armed lever 293 carries a follower roller 2% engaging a earn 297 secured on the related projecting end of crankshaft 2%. Thus on rotation of the crankshaft, cam 2%7 imparts a controlled pivotal reciprocation to lever 293 and through link 291 to lever 286 which in turn reciprocates pivot 23% over the part-circular path of motion previously mentioned and imparts to the needle 214 the desired reciprocation over its straight line path, independently of the bodily rotary reciprocation of lever 27% and needle 214 concurrently with the batten. As indicated above the other needle 215 is operated by similar mechanism including a further cam 392 (FIG. 2) mounted on the opposite end of the crankshaft 208 engaging a follower roller 303 carried on a lever 3&6 connected by a link 299 (see FIG. 1) to a two-armed lever corresponding to lever 286 connected in turn to the opposite needle-reciprocating lever sides of their related cams 297 and 392, and this provides a simple and efficient means of automatically taking up Wear in the mechanism. The shaft 294 carrying levers 295 and 396 at its opposite ends is a torsion shaft having substantial torsional resiliency. The lever 366 is fixedly secured to one end of the torsion shaft 294 while lever 295 is rotatably mounted on the other end of the torsion shaft. Tension means comprising a screw 3594 engaging a hole in the arm 292 of two-armed lever 293 engages at its end the free end of a finger 305 fixedly secured to torsion shaft 294 adjacent the lever 293. Adjustment of screw 3ti4will adjust the pressure of application of follower rollers 2% and 363 against their related cams 297 and 302 so as to take up any clearance that may tend to arise due to wear in the parts, while maintaining the said pressure of application equal on both sides of the frame.

. The inner end of needle 214 comprises a head portion 274 (FIGS. 4 and 5) and the inner end of needle 215 comprises a head portion 275 (FIGS. 8 and 9). These head portions rest freely upon the upper surface of the ,batten 202, or rather upon the warp threads supported on batten 202, and inertial forces acting on said needles due to their bodily rocking reciprocation with the batten and reed structure and tending to apply the needle heads against the generally vertical surface of the reed 213. That is, as the batten is accelerating on the forward stroke of its reciprocation about the axis of shaft 205, Le. counterclockwise in FIG. 15, the inertia of the needle 214 tends to apply it against the front face of the reed 213. The retaining effect of the acceleration forces acting on the needle heads is further enhanced by the fact that the pivot point of each needle e.g. 214 with the related drive lever such as 278 is somewhat displaced from the longitudinal axis of the needle both downwardly a distance a (FIGS. 4 and 6) and rearwardly a distance b (FIGS. 5 and 6). This arrangement causes the linear acceleration of the needles along their reciprocatory paths towards and away from each other to contribute their part to the action restraining the needles against the surfaces of the batten and read.

As the rocking batten-and-reed structure approaches the end of its forward reciprocating stroke and then reverses its sense of displacement, the inertial forces acting on the needles would tend to move the needle heads away from engagement with the front surface of reed 213. To ensure adequate restraint for the free-floating needles'during these stages of the operating cycle, stops 308 and 309 (see e.g. FIG. 1) are secured to the side of the batten near the opposite ends of it, the stops having offset vertical flange portions which temporarily act to restrict the movement of the needles away from the reed. It is important however to understand that such stops cannot in any sense be regarded as equivalent to the conventional guide means provided for guiding the needles along their reciprocatory paths in the usual construction. The stops 308, 369 provide considerable lateral clearance for the needles so that the free floating character of the latter is not affected by the presence of the stops; these merely exert a temporary restraining action during a limited phase of the operating cycle as described above.

Referring to FIGS. 4, 5 and 14, the inner end of head portion 274 of the delivery needle 214 includes a main portion 319 which is the form of a channel with a vertical web and horizontal flanges. The upper flange of this channel portion 310 is formed with a thread guide'notch 319 (see FIG. 14) engaged by the weft yarn 320. The lower flange of the channel is formed with a' pair of cooperating clarnp jaw portions 311 and 312 having convex surfaces directed toward each other to clamp a portion of the weft yarn between them as shown in FIG. 14. Clamp jaw 311 is substantially rigid while jaw 312 is resiliently flexible being in the form of a resilient strip secured to the channel portion 314) by means of a screw 314 and located in position by a locator pin 313 cooperating with a socket in the channel (see FIGS. 4 and 5). As shown in FIG. 5 the surface of channel portion 310 is formed with a shoulder so as to be spaced from the adjacent surface of strip 311 near screw 314; thus adjustment of this screw will act to adjust the clamping pressure applying strip 311 against the cooperating clamp jaw 312 and hencethe weft holding pressure in the needle. The surface of channel member 310 which is to engage the face of reed 213 during operation is lined with a strip of protective material 315 (e.g. the material sold as Textolite) to minimize wear on the reed. As shown in the drawings and as more completely described in my copending application Ser. No. 111,702 for Weaving Frame Having Improved Weft Handling Means, a vertical separator strip 317 upstanding from the upper surface of the batten in the general plane of contact between the clamp members 311, 312, is provided for causing the clamp members to open out towards the end of the outward reciprocation stroke of the delivery needle 214 so that beyond said strip 317 the clamp jaws 311, 312 close in again to grip the end portion of a further length of weft yarn presented thereto from the weft supply, preparatory to inserting this further length of weft yarn into the shed on the next inward reciprocation of needle 214. The strip 317 simultaneously exerts a cleaning action for maintaining the gripping surfaces of holder jaws 311,- 312 at all times in good surface condition.

As shown especially in FIG. 7, the weft yarn 325? from a weft supply bobbin or pirn 3194; is passed through a thread guide 318 before being inserted between the holder jaws of needle head 274. The thread guide 318 (or equivalent thread guide member) should be positioned as close as possible to the path of needle 214 to minimize the forces exerted by the weft yarn tending to deflect the free floating needle away from its true path of reciprocation.

As to the cooperating drawing needle 215, illustrated in FIGS. 8, 9 and 14, its head portion 275 comprises a pair of holder jaws 321, 322 secured thereto by a screw 323. The lower one 322 of these jaws is formed in a side of it with a hook portion 324 adapted, toward the innermost point of the inward reciprocatory stroke of the needles, to engage the length of weft yarn extending between the notch 319 and clamp 3l1-3i2 of the delivery needle 214 for effecting the transfer of the yarn from needle 214 to needle 215 as earlier mentioned. It will be noted from the drawings that the vertical dimensionof the'holder members 321- and 322 of needle 215- is small enough to penetrate freely into the space between the flanges of the channel section 31% of delivery needle 214. The general operation of the weaving loom described may be summarized as follows:

Electric motor 267 continuously rotates the main crankshaft 2% in the direction indicated by arrow 1 in FIG. 1 and the crankshaft in turn imparts motion to the main components of the machine as described earlier. The batten 202 is thus rocked back and forth by the action of the links 211 and 212 connected to it and to the crankshaft. Camshaft 261 is rotated to impart outof-phas'e vertical reciprocation through cams 258 and 259 to the heddles 251 and252. Lever arm 24-3 is rocked by the batten shaft 205 to impart step-by-step rotation to the cloth take-up device; and crankshaft 2% acting through earns 2.97 and 302 and the linkages described, imparts controlled reciprocation to the needles 21d and 215 toward and away from each other concurrently with the bodily rocking reciprocation of said needles together with the batten structure.

The in-and-out reciprocation of the needles will now be considered more closely with particular reference to diagrammatic FIGS. 16 to 18. It is first noted that the setting of cams 297 and 302 on the crankshaft is such that the spacing betweenthe needles 214 and 215 reaches its maximum value at the time the batten 2G2 and reed 213 are at the forward end of their rocking stroke (FIG. 16), While the needle heads are nearmost to each other to perform the weft transfer action as the batten and reed attain the rear end of their stroke (FIG. 18)

With the above in mind it will be understood that as the needles first start moving toward each other into the shed the batten and reed start to recede and therefore are subjected to a rearward accelerating force which is continued substantially as far as the mid-point of the rearward reciprocation of the batten and reed (FIG. 17). During this stage of the cycle, then, the needle heads due to their inertia are each applied by a force indicated by f1 in FIG. 16 against the respective abutments 3% and 309 projecting from the batten. Beyond the point in the cycle where the batten and reed are about midway of their rearward stroke and the needles are about midway of their inward stroke, as shown in FIG. 17, the batten decelerate's, owing ,to the substantially sinusoidal motion imparted to it through the links by the revolving crankshaft 208. Now, therefore, the inertia of the needle heads acts to apply a force f7 (FIG. 18) to said needle headsthe batten and reed momentarily remain stationary as the sense of their movement is reversed; The force f7 continues to exert its action during the first half of the forward stroke of the batten and reed as far as the midposition shown in FIG. 17, since the batten is now subjected to acceleration in the forward direction, while the needles are describing the first half of their outward movement. During this stage the needleheads are therefore again applied by their inertia against the front side of the reed.

As the batten and reed again reach the mid-position shown in FIG. 17 while now moving in the forward direction, they attain their maximum velocity and thereafter begin to decelerate. The needles are now caused by their inertia to move away from the front side of the reed and to engage the respective retainer abutments 3% and 3%, until the end of the cycle is reached in the position of FIG. 16 and a fresh cycle commences.

The important point to note in the above described cycle of operation is that at the position shown in HQ. 18 where the two needle heads are close to each other for effecting the transfer of the weft yarn from needle 214 to needle 23.5, the accelerating force applying the needle against the reed surface is a maximum; hence the two needle heads are at such time positioned positively and with great reliability in mutually aligned position so that the weft transfer is accomplished efiiciently and reliably.

It must also be noted that in addition to the generally horizontal acceleration forces considered above, the needle heads are permanently subjected during the cycle to the downward force of gravity which is applying them against the upper surface of the lower sheet of warp yarn supported upon the surface of the batten. Thus the needle heads are pressed by the combination of vertical and horizontal acceleration forces into the apex Of'tlle dihedral angle defined by said lower warp sheet (or the underlying batten surface) and the side surface of the reed. The needle heads are thus assured of being in true alignment and of accomplishing the weft transferring function under the most favourable circumstances despite (or because of) their free floating mounting.

Preferably, as mentioned earlier, the point of pivotal attachment of each needle 21d and 215 with the related lever 2'78 and 282 is somewhat displaced rearwardly and downwardly from the center axis of the needle. The

result of this arrangement is "that over the first half of the inward stroke of the needles (FIG. 16) the levers 278 and 282 tend to disengage the needleheads from the front side surface of the reed and apply said needleheads against the stops 3% and 369, while over the latter half of said inward stroke of the needles the levers 2'78 and 282 exert an additional force contributing to applying the needle heads downwardly against the lower sheet of yarn and rearwardly against the front side of the reed. The inertial forces acting on the needles coupled with the reaction forces such as 5 (FIG. 18) at the point of pivotal attachment between the olive members 276 and the drive levers such as 273, generate mechanical couples tending to rot-ate the needles about said points, so as to assist the action of the forces in (FIG. 4) and f7 (FIGS. 5 and 18) applying the needle heads downward against the batten and sideways against the reed respectively.

According to another optional feature schematically shown in FIG. 15, the upper surface of batten 202 is disposed at an angle somewhat less than (by an amount 01) to the plane of the reed 213. This arrangement compensates for the effect of centrifugal force developed in the rotation of the batten about shaft 205 and further improves the positive locating of the needleheads in true alignment at the instant of Weft transfer.

Thus it will be apparent that the floating mounting of the weft picker needles according to the invention makes it possible to eliminate completely the conventional needle guide means heretofore used, with the defects inherent to such guides, enumerated earlier. Construction is simplified and cost price is reduced, maintenance is facilitated,

a a the need for delicate positional adjustment and alignment is eliminated; the needles can be withdrawn from the shed at a substantially later instant in the operating cycle than is possible where needle guides are used; the pressure on the weft is made more uniform throughout the width of the cloth and the'quality of the woven product is improved. Moreover, the needles can be operated at a substantially slower rate than was required with the use of needle guides, thereby providing a number of further beneficial results that will be apparent to those familiar with the weaving art. Also, the needles are more easily removable and replaceable when required. All the above advantages are achieved, moreover, without any sacrifice on the reliability of the weft transferring operation since the needle heads are positively held in alignment at the proper point of the cycle by the combination of acceleration forces described, which apply them forcibly into the apex of a common dihedral angle.

The elimination of the usual needle guides, which when present can only be withdrawn out of the shed after the needles themselve have first been withdrawn,;makes a longer period of the cycle available for the withdrawal of the needles. point of the cycle when the shed is almost completely closed, so that the condition cannot arise wherein the pick of weft just shot across the shed is inadequately clamped by the warp threads, as was commonly the case in the earlier arrangement where the needles had to be withdrawn at a time when the shed was wide open owing to the necessity of withdrawing the needle guides first. As a consequence there is now no danger of the pick of weft contracting by its inherent elasticity. The weft tension can be made more uniform and more accurately controllable than was heretofore possible throughout the full width of the cloth.

Moreover, the absence of the needle guides that heretofore had to be introduced into the shed before the needles could in turn be started on their ingoing stroke, makes it now possible to commence the ingoing stroke of the needles at an earlier point of the cycle, so that more efiicient use is made of the entire weaving cycle. The input and output velocities of the needles can be reduced; or/ and, using the same velocity of needle movement the weaving cycle can be completed in a shorter period thereby increasing the production rate.

The increased simplicity of construction made possible by omission of the needle guides also permits a general The needles can therefore be withdrawn at a increase in the operating velocities of the various loom 274 as far as the midpoint of the cloth, there to be picked up by the cooperating needlehead 275 which latter has penetrated into the delivery head 274 as earlier described (FIGS. 10, 11 and 14) and is star-ting back on its outgoing stroke whereupon it engages, with its hook portion 324, the weft yarn 320 retained by needlehead 274 as clearly shown in FIGS. 12, 13 and 14. In'FlG. 14 the plane designated P is the general plane of the reed (not shown), while plane Q is the plane of the lower sheet of warp yarn, and the line XX is the intersection of the said planes. p The weft yarn is thus drawn by the needlehead 27 through the second half of the shed and, as the needlehead disengages the shed (FIGS. 8 and 9) its two holder jaws 321, 322 are opened apart by the separator strip 325 positioned on the path of the mating surfaces thereof, so that at the time the weft yarn is released it is extending in the correct direction parallel to the weft yarn of the cloth. At this time the shed is almost completely closed and therefore is holding the weft yarn in position to be pressed against the previously settled weft yarn by the reed 213.

It will be understood that various modifications may be made in the single exemplary embodiment illustrated and described without exceeding the scope of the present invention. Thus, the horizontal surface of batten 202' may be dispensed with and the free-floating needle heads 274, 275, may be supported upon 'the sheet of warp yarn adjacent the side surface of reed 213, at a point when the warp yarn itself is actually unsupported.

What is claimed is: 1. In a shuttleless loom having means for shedding Warp threads and means for cyclically interchanging the positions of the upper and lower sheet of the shed formed 1 by thesaid warp threads, batten and reed means reciprocable longitudinally of the shed, said batten having an upper surface supporting said lower sheet of the shed and forming an angle with the front surface of said reed, a pair of weft carrying needles disposed on said batten surface so as to extend substantially in parallelism with said reed surface; a pair of menrbers on opposite sides of the frame reciprocablelongitudinally of the'warp bodily with the batten and oppositely reciprocable transversely of the warp relatively to the batten; means pivotally connecting an outer end of each needle to a related one of said members; weft-holding and transferring means at the inner ends of said needles, said inner needle ends resting freely by gravity upon said lower sheet of Warp supported on the upper batten surface and being applied into engagement with said reed surface by inertia during a substantial part of the batten and reed reciprocating cycle.

2. In a shuttleless loom having means for shedding warp threads, means for shooting weft threads through needles, as earlier explained' Such needle removing H operations are often desirable during a weaving process for withdrawingone or more picks of weft by simply reversing the operation of the frame in order to retain the correct pitch. A similar unweaving operation in the case of conventional frames has been a source of trouble owing to the difficulty of removing the needles.

It will be noted that the pick-up of the weft yarn 320 (FIGS. 4 and 7) by the holder or gripper jaws 311, 312 of the delivery needle 214 is effected at the point where the holder jaws 311, 312 are closing in around the weft yarn on disengaging the separator strip 317 secured on the batten, as described earlier herein and in the aforementioned co-pending application. The extremity of the weft yarn which is still connected to the supply bobbin 319a, after the yarn has been cut as described in said co-pending application and after the pick of yarn has just been shot through the shed, will always be accurately presented to the path of the holding or gripping device between the thread guide 318 and the thread-grip device (not shown) carried by the batten. Thus the end of the weft yarn 320 is positively carried by the needle head the shed formed by said warp threads; reed means reciprocable longitudinally of the warp for settling each shot of weft at a rearmost point of the reciprocation of said reed, said weft shooting means comprising a pair of weft carrying needles reciprocable toward and away from each other and having weft holding means at their inner ends; means delivering weft yarn to the weft holder of one needle at an outermost position of both needles and means'for transferring said weft yarn from said one to the other needle at an innermost position of both needles; means having a pivotal connection with the outer ends of the needles for reciprocating both needles longitudinally of the warp simultaneously with the reed and for simultaneously reciprocating the needles toward and away from each other transverselyof the warp, said needles having their inner ends resting substantially freely by gravity on said lower sheet of warp forward of said reed; and means so timing said longitudinal and transverse reciprocatory motions that the needles attain'said innermost transfer position thereof substantially as said reed attains said rearmost settling position thereof, whereby said needles are pressed by inertia against the reed surface at the time of weft transfer for true alignment between said inner needle ends during said weft transfer operation.

3. A weaving frame having warp supply means, warp shedding means, means shooting weft through the warp shed, and reed means reciprocable longitudinally of the warp for settling each shot of weft, said weft shooting means comprising a pair of needles reciprocable toward and away from each other across the warp and having weft-holding and transferring means at their inner ends, means pivotally connected with the outer ends of the needles for reciprocating the needles longitudinally with the reed and transversely toward and away from each other, said inner ends of the needles resting iioatingly 'on the lower warp sheet and adjacent to said reed so as to be applied against both the warp threads and the reed at the instant of weft transfer.

4. A shuttleless loom as claimed in claim 2, wherein said pivotal connection is displaced rearwardly from the center lines of said needles.

5.- A shuttleless loom as claimed in claim 2, wherein said pivotal connection is displaced downwardly from the center lines of the needles.

6. A shuttleless loom as claimed in 1, wherein' said reed and batten surfaces form an angle of somewhat less than 90.

7. A shuttleless loom as claimed in claim 1, including stop means supported by the batten for restricting movement of said needle ends away from the reed surface by inertia during another part of said cycle.

8. A weaving frame having warp supply means; warp shedding means; means shooting weft through the warp shed; and reed means reciprocable for settling the shots of weft; said weft shooting means comprising a pair of needles reciprocable toward and away from each other across the warp with the inner ends of said needles resting floatingly on the lower warp sheet and adjacent to the upper surface of the batten and adjacent to the reed; and means for reciprocating the needles longitudinally with the reed and transversely toward and away from each other'said last means comprising a pair of levers on opposite sides of the frames each having a first point pivotally connected to the outer end of a related needle, rocker shaft means connected with second points of both levers for rocking both levers about an axis parallel to the weft for longitudinally reciprocating the needles, and

. further means connected with a third point of lever for rocking both levers about axes generally parallel to the warp for transversely reciprocating the needles.

9. A weaving frame as claimed in claim 8, wherein said rocker shaft serves to support and rock saidreed.

10. A weaving frame as claimed in claim 8, wherein the means connecting the rocker shaft with said second poinbof each lever comprises means permitting limited straight-line reciprocatory displacement of said second point of the lever relatively to said rocker shaft, and said further means comprise further levers each having one end connected to said third'point of a related one of the first levers andhaving another point pivotally connected to said reed about an axis normal to that of said rocker shaft means, and means connected with a third point of each further lever for rocking said further levers about said pivot points thereof.

11. A weaving frame as claimed in claim 10, wherein the means for rocking said further levers comprise a drive shaft journalled across said frame, cams secured on opposite ends of said drive shaft, third. levers pivoted on the frame and each having a follower engaging a related one of said cams and having another point thereof con- -12 nected by linkage with said third point of related one of said further levers.

12. A weaving frame as claimed in claim 11, wherein said followers of both third levers engage opposite side portions of their respective cams, and torsion means interconnecting said third levers for urging both third levers into engagement with said cams.

13. A weaving frame as claimed in claim 3, wherein said pivotal connecting means comprise a quick-release attachment device.

14. A Weaving frame as claimed in claim 3 wherein said pivotal connecting means comprise an olive shaped pivot member, alignable recesses in said needle and in said reciprocating means and engageable by said pivot member, and a leaf spring engaging a protruding end of said pivot member for releasably retaining it in engaged position.

15. A shuttleless loom as claimed in claim 2, wherein said one'needle comprises at its inner end a pair of spaced flanges, a spring-pressed strip cooperating with one flange to define a weft-gripping means therewith, and a notch in the other flange adapted to guidingly receive a portion of said weft yarn therein, another portion of said weft yarn being gripped in said weft-gripping means, and wherein the other of said needles comprises at its inner end a pair of spring-pressed strips defining another weft gripping means adapted for insertion between said flanges of said one needle at said innermost position ofthe needles and a'hook-like part on one of said strips of said other needle adapted for engaging said weft yarn between said two portions thereof and transferring said weft yarn from said gripping means of said one needle to the gripping means of said other needle.

16. In a shuttleless loom having a frame and a rocker shaft journaled thereon means for shedding warp threads, a lay structure reciprocable longitudinally of the shed formed by said warp threads, said structure including a pair of lay swords mounted on saidrocker shaft, a lay beam providing a flat upper surface, and a reed positioned on said surface so as to have its front face forming an angle therewith, a delivery needle reciprocable transversely of said shed for inserting a weft thread past way therethrough, a drawing needle bar reciprocable transversely of said shed to receive said Weft thread andto complete the inlaying thereof, a pair of operating levers mounted one at each side of said lay structure for reciprocating motion therewith, each lever having one end connected to said rocker shaft for radial reciprocating motion relative thereto, means for moving the other ends of said levers simultaneously in opposite directionstowards and from each other in a straight line adjacent and parallel to the inner corner formed by said front face of the reed and said upper surface provided by said lay beam, a swivel connection between the outer end of said drawing needle bar and said other end of one of the said operating levers and aswivel connection between the outer end of said delivery needle andsaid other end of oneof the other operating levers, and abutment means carried by each lay sword adapted to limit swinging motion of said needles in the forward direction away from said reed.

References Cited the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,009,472 Clark Nov. 21, 1911 1,564,506 Ambler Dec. 8, 1925 2,072,161 Dewas Mar. 2, 1937 2,170,770 Sullivan Aug. 22, 1939 2,702,566 Houghton Feb. 22, 1955 

1. IN A SHUTTLELESS LOOM HAVING MEANS FOR SHEDDING WARP THREADS AND MEANS FOR CYCLICALLY INTERCHANGING THE POSITIONS OF THE UPPER AND LOWER SHEET OF THE SHED FORMED BY THE SAID WARP THREADS, BATTEN AND REED MEANS RECIPROCABLE LONGITUDINALLY OF THE SHED, SAID BATTEN HAVING AN UPPER SURFACE SUPPORTING SAID LOWER SHEET OF THE SHED AND FORMING AN ANGLE WITH THE FRONT SURFACE OF SAID REED, A PAIR OF WEFT CARRYING NEEDLES DISPOSED ON SAID BATTEN SURFACE SO AS TO EXTEND SUBSTANTIALLY IN PARALLELISM WITH SAID REED SURFACE; A PAIR OF MEMBERS ON OPPOSITE SIDES OF THE FRAME RECIPROCABLE LONGITUDINALLY OF THE WARP BODILY WITH THE BATTEN AND OPPOSITELY RECIPROCABLE TRANSVERSELY OF THE WARP RELATIVELY TO THE BATTEN; MEANS PIVOTALLY CONNECTING AN OUTER END OF EACH NEEDLE TO A RELATED ONE OF SAID MEMBERS; WEFT-HOLDING AND TRANSFERRING MEANS AT THE INNER ENDS OF SAID NEEDLES, SAID INNER NEEDLE ENDS RESTING FREELY BY GRAVITY UPON SAID LOWER SHEET OF WARP SUPPORTED ON THE UPPER BATTEN SURFACE AND BEING APPLIED INTO ENGAGEMENT WITH SAID REED SURFACE BY INERTIA DURING A SUBSTANTIAL PART OF THE BATTEN AND REED RECIPROCATING CYCLE. 